I have always been curious to know more about WWE’s ratings — Each week when the overnight rating of RAW and SmackDownLIVE is revealed, the highest viewing demographic is the 50+ crowd, while the lowest viewing demographic is the 12-18 range. I know many millenial viewers watch shows on delay or at their own pleasure so I decided to reach out to top wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer on this matter.

@davemeltzerWON Would WWE's 18-34 demo ratings be higher if VOD and Live + 7 were taken into account?

WWE's biggest problem was the Cena Era never really provided them a stable viewer base for the future.

Cena was great at bringing in the kids market especially with the shift to PG but only for live shows and not tv viewing in general. Sort of like the Pokemon Effect where kids love Cena and WWE but after a few years, grow out of it and leave. Unlike the Pokemon Effect, those same people don't return when they are older.

Younger people skewing more towards Youtube and mobile stuff is probably also related to how terrible WWE is for consistency so its a lot easier to digest short clips or Hulu than sit and watch 3 hour RAWs every week.

I went thru a phase for several years where I would read the RAW results and then just watch the clips on the WWE YouTube page that sounded interesting. You could be all caught up on RAW in 20 minutes or less.

WWE's biggest problem was the Cena Era never really provided them a stable viewer base for the future.

Cena was great at bringing in the kids market especially with the shift to PG but only for live shows and not tv viewing in general. Sort of like the Pokemon Effect where kids love Cena and WWE but after a few years, grow out of it and leave. Unlike the Pokemon Effect, those same people don't return when they are older.

Younger people skewing more towards Youtube and mobile stuff is probably also related to how terrible WWE is for consistency so its a lot easier to digest short clips or Hulu than sit and watch 3 hour RAWs every week.

You can pretty much say that about every era. People grew out of the Hogan era like they did the Attitude era

That no longer means what it did 20 years ago when you have 2 hour podcasts getting 15+ million dedicated viewers a week and that podcast is just one of many. Even the next work is a failure under those standards

You can pretty much say that about every era. People grew out of the Hogan era like they did the Attitude era

True but with the Cena era those problems got worse the longer it went.

At least with Hogan's core, they didn't stop watching wrestling or being fans en masse so WWE always had a large pool of viewers to gain back. Also while the New Gen was pretty bad overall, it did help supply the new core and stars for the Attitude Era.

I'd argue Vince pretty much wrecked the WWE in the long run with how poorly stuff was handled post-Invasion and focusing everything solely on Cena at the cost of everything else. Left the WWE on shakier ground to transition Cena's core or build a new core for the next era than the New Gen era did.

WWE has generated more money from TV revenue than ever before and this past year was their highest revenue generating year of all time. So everything is working.

Advertisers will base rates on what shows are viewed the most by demo, since WWE is at or near the top in all demos, it ensures they are maximizing revenues. Could ratings be higher? Sure. But when the entire industry is declining, being number one or near number one is very good.

That no longer means what it did 20 years ago when you have 2 hour podcasts getting 15+ million dedicated viewers a week and that podcast is just one of many. Even the next work is a failure under those standards

The Network is a success because it's generating more money than the old model, and it has potential to generate exponentially more revenue as they get more subs in certain markets and add advertising as a revenue stream.

As for television, I don't think ad revenue for podcasts are equal to that on tv. In other words I don't think Joe Blows podcast with 15 million listeners in generating the same ad revenue as 15 million viewers on Fox. Beyond that, I don't think podcasts get rights fees from the internet. So there's that.

As for television, I don't think ad revenue for podcasts are equal to that on tv. In other words I don't think Joe Blows podcast with 15 million listeners in generating the same ad revenue as 15 million viewers on Fox. Beyond that, I don't think podcasts get rights fees from the internet. So there's that.

The Network is a success because it's generating more money than the old model, and it has potential to generate exponentially more revenue as they get more subs in certain markets and add advertising as a revenue stream.